Friday Five: So It Begins

Another week and another season has started for the NHL. We've got the European games, the domestic games, and other games....I think....or something. Anyway-- we'll get into my Friday Five questions and some awful inane answers to contribute.

1. Is there a time where the European games don't make sense??

The time is coming soon, especially when you don't have many "sexy" teams heading over there this year. The downsides to this is just the teams lose a home game, which loses revenue for the team-- even though it could help some teams because they won't lose money because people won't come to the rink anyway. The problem is, with the fact Rene Fasel is still the head of the IIHF, that there's issues in North America with teams having troubles-- the NHL in Europe is just for show and if you want to do anything; go back to the old school times where one or two teams do a tour of a country and use that as their pre-season and to get the league out there. The Caps did it in Russia in 1989, the North Stars did it in France in 1990; set it up like that. Don't put regular season games there because it's not going to win anyone over.

2. It seems youth is being served early: Brandon Sutter and Jeff Skinner in Carolina, Sergei Bobrovsky in Philly, and the Edmonton Three. How long can this last for them?? (Assist to Captain Hammer for the idea.)

For the Edmonton triad of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Magnus Paajarvi (SVENSSON!!)-- it could last all season. Hall seems to be the real deal, Eberle should have been there last year, and MPS is the great compliment to those two. In Carolina, it looks like Skinner is ready to get things going-- but it could be just no one knowing how to play him, time will time. Sutter has the alternate captaincy, so he could be ready-- but because he plays where he does; no one is onto him.

Bobrovsky could be the wild card. We have always seen goalies get off to the quick start, then falters when people catch onto them-- right Jim Carey and Blaine Lacher?? That said, Bobo could be the guy who stops the goaltending carousel for the Flyers. He couldn't do any worse than the guys they've seen come in and out of the door. If nothing else, he's a guy that could keep the confidence given and parlay it into a solid season and beyond.

3. With Raitis Ivanans getting knocked the eff out by Steve MacIntyre, is this a record for people like Bob McKenzie to rag on fighting??

It could be, but I understand McKenzie's point of the game being out of hand and it being a worthless cause for this to happen. Yet, at the same time-- you try to get some kind of momentum into the next game if it's a lost cause-- whether it's a flurry of goals or a fight. Granted, Ivanans getting KTFO isn't what the Flames wanted, but he made a stand. If that could have happened earlier in the game with a different result-- who knows what could have happened. Yet, we'll see how much of a backlash this gets if something happens again.

4. What opening ceremonies thus far have been somewhat meaningful??

Though I very much dislike the Penguins, having Mario Lemieux put some of the melted ice from Mellon Arena on the Consol Energy ice was pretty snazzy. Not as cool as what the Montreal Canadiens did when they closed down Forum, but what do you expect from a team that has the history the Habs do??

Other than that, it seems like it's by the book for most teams. The Leafs bringing out their alumni for the opener, the Europeans bringing out their stars, teams just going through the elaborate opening announcing the team. It's nothing that's out of the ordinary, but it seems to have the same excitement factor behind it all.

5. What would be the perfect opening ceremony for a team that you were in charge of??

For one, you need fire-- that's a must. Have the mascot come out of the sky and hopefully not get stuck in the rafters. I'd go by the book and get the introductions and have the players do a victory lap to thank all the fans. Put replays of last year's season up there, good or bad, and then hype the team up about how well they're going to do and they're ready for a big Cup run.

All the while, I'm counting the money and trying to sell off some of the team's stuff like Charlestown Chiefs owner Joe McGrath or be like Howard K. Duff VIII and look for a way to move the team to Albuquerque and not let anyone know about it.

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And that's another week. If you have any ideas of questions-- I'll answer them. Email Scotty.Wazz@Gmail.com and I'll put into the upcoming F5 and you can join in. If you don't like this and didn't submit-- you have no room to complain about this craptasticness.

Laraque Staging Fight For Staged Fights

The GM meetings in Naples, Florida has brought a lot of buzz to the hockey world and to some role players in the NHL these past few days. The biggest buzz being Georges Laraque's reaction to the idea that a staged fight would be a 10-minute misconduct and would be up to the referee to decide if it was staged or not.

Now, Laraque calls the idea a joke and says that it'll take fighting out of the game, as well as destroy the careers of many of the one-dimensional players in the league. Laraque also feels slighted that, as a player who's livelihood could be effected by this rule, he wasn't invited to partake in the discussion of it. Obviously, GM who are there in their little section of the media row aren't on the ice, but it is what it is.

Before I go any further, let me preface the following (which I'm sure you'll figure out what it is soon enough) by saying that fighting shouldn't be taken out of the game. It's a part of the game for a reason, it's what sets the NHL and hockey in general apart from the other sports in the lexicon. The emotion in the game is very high and the physicality of the game should be a selling point of the NHL and other leagues.

With that said, the staged fighting and the fights that happen after a clean hit are pure and utter bullshit. The staged fights are the worst of all, especially since most of them have no meaning to them except for being the sideshow act of the game. Laraque is notorious for these, even with A/V proof when he get mic'd up for local TV games. The staged fight takes away any flow from either team, it sometimes turns into a big hug fest, and just puts a bad face on fighting because it has no emotion, especially five minutes into the first period of a 0-0 game. If I want a staged fight, I'll go to YouTube and watch some WWE clips. Plus, if staged fights were a huge draw, how come there weren't that many people to back the Hockey Enforcers Fight Night gimmick from a couple years back??

The fighting after a big hit is a little more manageable, because it does have something to do with passion of the game and the intensity of it, but when did clean hits become a set-up for a fight?? Didn't people used to love hockey because of the big hits?? Now, you can't have a guy like Dion Phaneuf set a guy up without the threat of him being mugged afterwards for it. The perfect example is Tyler Sloan this year laying out Daymond Langkow, then Rene Bourque flying in for no reason, except to retaliate by dropping the mitts. If it was a dirty hit, sure-- I could understand a little better for stepping up for your teammate, but if it's a solid hit and you do that-- to me it signals you think your guy is weak and can't take a hit and be alright with it. As much as fighting is a part of the game, so is a solid, clean body check.

As far as removing one-dimensional hockey players from the game-- here's an idea, get a new dimension. Get into the two dimensions so you can be equal to the paper that your name is written on when the line-ups are exchanged. If you're a giant oaf who can bearly skate and only purpose is to get less than 30 seconds of ice time, maybe this wasn't the game for you. No offense, odds are I wouldn't be able to do the fight load they can-- but at the same time, you may want to have something to fall back on if fighting doesn't turn out to be the thing for you. I think in the NHL today, you can't be a one-dimensional guy and survive in the league for more than two or three years.

It's all well and good that Laraque wants to step up for his brethern in the hockey world, but at the same time; reality needs to kick into his head and realize that maybe it's time for a new career path in terms of what he can and can't do on the ice. With the way the game is being focused on, the idea that fighting will be the selling hook is not going to happen. Maybe pre-lockout it would have been, but now it's about youth, speed, skill, and scoring. Fighting will always play it's part in the game, but it having to do with the game and not for the sake of fighting alone is the only reason it should still be included.